Réunion

March 18, 2009 -- Life on the Left -- A 38-day general strike in the Caribbean colony of Martinique ended
March 14 with the signing of a protocol between the government and the
February 5 Collective, a coalition of trade unions and other social movements
named after the day the strike began. The agreement grants the
coalition’s key demands. About 20,000 people celebrated the historic
victory in a march through the streets.

AFP reported that “the
signing ceremony drew a crowd of thousands who gathered outside the
island’s head administrative office. They repeatedly chanted a slogan
‘Matinik leve,’ or ‘Martinique stand up’ in the local Creole language.”